Even if a Glendale, Ariz.. sales tax cut measure gets the go-ahead from the Arizona Supreme Court, makes the November ballot and is passed by voters, the fight over the initiative may not be over.

The Save Glendale Now measure asks city voters to reverse a $125 million, five-year sales tax increase passed by the Glendale City Council earlier this summer to help deal with budget shortfalls and pay for the first years of a $300 million arena deal with prospective Phoenix Coyotes buyer Greg Jamison

The city of Glendale argues the ballot measure won’t reverse the sales tax increase even if its approved by voters.

“Our opinion is that it’s not retroactive,” said Glendale City Attorney Craig Tindall.

The city contends, consequently, that it would still take some kind of additional action to undue the sales tax increase that went into place Aug. 1.

That could set up another legal and political fight with Save Glendale Now, the main backer of reversing the sales tax increase.

Tindall said because the SGN tax cut measure is an initiative, it is a prospective measure that impacts future policy.

“It can’t do anything to past actions,” Tindall said.

SGN attorney Steve Tully disagrees.

“If the initiative passes, Glendale will have to decide if it is really going to try and collect a tax in excess of the rate cap set in its charter: a bad idea,” Tully said. “Otherwise, Glendale will need to file something with the court to block the cap and make its argument that a cap in the charter is somehow not effective to overturn an existing ordinance on a prospective basis, which is what the initiative does.”

The Glendale tax measure asks voters to reverse the summer sales tax hike, sets rates to their previous levels and requires public votes on future increases. The Supreme Court is considering a Glendale appeal this week of an Arizona Court of Appeals ruling that put the SGN measure back on track for the November ballot.

“The initiative is not retroactive and does not purport to be. If passed, it will effectively reverse the recent tax increase unless and until Glendale’s voters—as opposed to the city council—approve the increase,” Tully said. “If the initiative passes and the city wants to spend more of its money fighting the will of its own citizens, I guess there might be another fight.”

SGN is a tax group backed by Sanderson Ford and the Home Builders Association of Central Arizona. Tindall said the city believes even if SGN ends up approved by voters, it could be a dormant part of the City Charter, and undoing the Aug. 1 sales tax action still takes another action.

The court fight over the measure and the appeals court ruling in favor of SGN has made the city skittish over its 20-year arena deal with Jamison.The city isn’t signing the arena deal despite approving it in June and Jamison’s assurances he has the money to buy the Coyotes. Yahoo! Sports reports that Jamison has indeed told the league that he has financing lined up to purchase the team.

Interim city manager Horatio Skeete has presented Jamison some new arena payment options.

But Jamison is not keen on changes, and those would likely require a new council vote on the Coyotes matter.

The November elections will also bring Glendale a new mayor and some new council members. They could also undo the sales tax hike as well as the Coyotes deal if it isn’t consummated by January when they take office.

Mike Sunnucks writes about politics, law, airlines, sports business and the economy for Phoenix Business Journal, a sister publication of Sporting News.